Clinton and Obama: Unconvincing Underdogs

To the ranks of history's great underdogs--1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team, the 1969 New York Jets, and Rocky Balboa--add two posers: Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

That these two individuals--with elite private university educations, multi-million dollar incomes (and access to countless millions more) and running for the presidency of still the most powerful nation on earth--could ever be convincingly portrayed as underdogs is amusing.

But there they were last week: both wheedled, bowed and postured in front of anyone not too jaded by the Democrat-campaign-that-never-ends, as they nagged to be tagged "The Underdog".

Some famous underdogs

Or, as the Boston Herald's Darren Garnick put it:

Hillary and Obama did everything short of coughing up the Philadelphia Art Museum steps during the Pennsylvania Primary — trying to seize the “fighter” and “underdog” storylines.

And now, North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley is saying that Hillary is so tough that she “makes Rocky Balboa look like a pansy.”

The Los Angeles Times reports that gay rights organizations are about to let loose on the governor, but they’re missing the ball here. The bigger question is what right does a North Carolina politician have to ride the boxing robetails of the Italian Stallion?

Shouldn’t Gov. Easley be making Dawson’s Creek metaphors?

This famous underdog wanted to be the top dog

Which is more important to the two Democrat candidates: underdog or winner?

It was baffling to see them both scrambling to claim the title of April "underdog", while at the same time trying to convince super-important super-delegates that, come November, they'll be super-winners.